"Medicine is a social science, and politics is nothing else but medicine on a large scale"—Rudolf Virchow

June 10, 2014

A man who died in a hospital in central Vietnam a few days ago was found being infected with Streptococcus suis, a bacterium commonly present in pigs, doctors said Monday.

Le Dinh Hung, 58, was admitted to Huong Tra Town General Hospital with high fever and exaggerated shivering on June 5, but was soon transferred to Hue Central Hospital after developing septic shock, Dr. Hoang Bach Thao at Hue Central Hospital said.

However, he died later that same day due to failure of respiratory system and heart.

His family claimed that they did not raise pigs and before falling sick, he had not come in contact with pigs or eaten pork.

Local agencies are investigating how Hung contracted the bacterium.

Nguyen Dinh Son, director of Thua Thien – Hue Province’s Center for Preventive Health, told the media that Hung was the seventh case of streptococcus suis infection to be recorded in the province this year.

Last year there were 16 cases.

In February, a 48-year-old man in the northern province of Thai Binh died from the bacterium after eating tiet canh – a kind of dish made of uncooked pig blood.

Streptococcus suis is a persistent problem in Asia, and I was blogging about it way back in August 2005.

January 31, 2014

For people racked by the dreaded ‘Beijing cough’, it is all too clear that particles in the city’s thick smogs pose a public-health problem. But much less clear is the impact — or even the identity — of the microbes that also drift through the brown haze.

Chinese researchers have now used genome sequencing to identify about 1,300 different microbial species in an exceptionally soupy smog that hit Beijing in January 2013. Reassuringly, most of the microbes they found are benign — but a few are responsible for allergies and respiratory disease in humans. And on days with heavier pollution, the proportion of DNA from these allergens and pathogens increased, suggesting that they might present an additional health threat to vulnerable groups, such as older people or those with weakened immune systems.

Surveys of airborne microbes have long relied on culturing samples in the lab, a method that can easily miss key species. In the past few years, researchers have looked at the microbial genomes found in air to identify broad families or genera of bacteria — an approach called metagenomics. But this is the first time that a survey has drilled down to pinpoint particular species of microbes in air, which is important for assessing their pathogenic potential, says Ting Zhu, a biologist at Tsinghua University, Beijing, who was part of the team that performed the latest study. “It’s a proof of principle that one can extract and identify these microbes at the species level,” says Zhu. “It adds to our understanding of what we inhale every day.”

Fog filter

The scientists took 14 air samples over 7 consecutive days and filtered out two types of particles: those measuring less than 2.5 micrometres across, and those up to 10 micrometres across, known as PM2.5 and PM10, respectively. On some days during the experiment, Beijing’s PM2.5 levels topped 500 micrograms per cubic metre — some 20 times the World Health Organization’s guideline limits.

The scientists extracted and sequenced DNA from the samples, and compared the results with a large gene database. The most abundant species identified was Geodermatophilus obscurus, a common soil bacterium. But they also found Streptococcus pneumoniae, which can cause pneumonia; Aspergillus fumigatus, a fungal allergen; and a range of other bacteria typically found in faeces.

The proportion of DNA from these species increased by 2–4 times on the smoggiest days, although the samples probably included material from dead cells too, “so we don’t know if they are still viable”, says Zhu. The researchers suggest that clinical studies could look for the same microbes in the sputum of patients with respiratory tract infections, to assess whether smoggier days lead to more infections.

Andrea Franzetti, a microbiologist at the University of Milan–Bicocca, Italy, says that the make-up of the microbial community in Beijing's air is broadly in line with a similar survey of airborne bacteria that his team conducted in Milan. “What’s new is the high number of sequences,” he says. That helps to quickly pinpoint bacteria that might have worrying health effects, allowing microbiologists to target them for further study. “There is increasing evidence that bacteria could play an important role in the health effects [of airborne particles],” says Franzetti.

Even so, “the PM2.5 and PM10's are way more problematic than any of the microbes,” notes Norman Pace, a microbiologist at the University of Colorado Boulder, who led a sequencing-based survey of microbes in New York subway air. The technique might be more revealing in locations such as hospitals, where there are greater concerns about airborne pathogens, he suggests.

December 14, 2013

Doctors have urged parents to take children who have not been vaccinated against a deadly bacteria - and also the common flu - to get the jabs quickly before the cold weather expected next week.

The call came as the Observatory reminded the public to prepare for gloomy and wet weather tomorrow, when temperatures will drop to around 12 degrees Celsius in urban areas and lower in the New Territories.

Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3 claimed two young lives last month. Six children remain in public hospitals after they were infected with the bug.

"Parents should pay attention not just to the Streptococcus pneumoniae serotype 3 bacteria, but also to flu. It's the peak of the flu season," Medical Association president Dr Tse Hung Hing said.

"Children who have not had injections against both should get them quickly before the weather turns cold."

Meanwhile, the Hospital Authority said 86 private doctors had filed claims for consultation fees after providing PCV13 vaccinations to more than 240 children as part of a government scheme to combat the bug, which began yesterday.

Some 1,200 private doctors have joined the scheme, which offers subsidised jabs to children aged two to five years old who have never received the PCV13 vaccine.

Under the scheme, the Centre for Health Protection supplies the vaccine to the private doctors for free and offers a HK$50 subsidy per jab for consultation fees.

November 23, 2013

Criminal charges are pending against a Calgary mother who police allege relied on holistic treatments instead of getting medical help for her seven-year-old son's strep infection.

On the morning of March 2, emergency crews were called to a 17th Avenue S.W. basement suite where a young boy was having a seizure. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy found the cause of death was a strep infection, which would have been treatable with penicillin.

Police allege the mother did not take the boy for treatment, giving him holistic remedies instead.

"The treatment rendered at home was homeopathic in nature. This would include herbal remedies. The mother refused to take the child to a medical professional. No excuse given — just her belief system," said Staff Sgt. Mark Cavilla.

March 01, 2013

Vietnamese Lunar New Year festivities in February, during which many pigs were slaughtered and served, sometimes raw, sent at least 12 people to hospital, with swine bacteria killing four.

Two died in hospitals and two others died at home in central Vietnam.

A source from the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases in Hanoi last week said they received 16 people infected with the Streptococcus suis bacteria, a pork-based pathogen, since the beginning of this year, including nine during the ten days of the festival that began on February 10.

The patients were from Hanoi and the nearby provinces of Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh and Thai Binh, and had direct contact with pork through butchering, selling pork, or eating "tiet canh," a type of pudding made with raw pig’s blood.

Two men from Nam Dinh died of severe blood poisoning, two others are also struggling with it, while the rest have developed meningitis, the source said.

Dr. Nguyen Trung Cap from the hospital’s Emergency Department said the dead patients were brought to the hospital after having the blood dish, and the condition of both became critical quickly with declining liver, kidney and lung functions.

“Half the patients said they ate 'tiet canh,'” Cap said.

The bacteria also killed two butchers in the central province of Quang Nam during the holiday, Tien Phong reported February 22.

Pham Thi Nguyet, 45, died on February 8, four days after she slaughtered five pigs belonging to a local animal health official.

Nguyen Nguyen, 40, died on February 10, just one day after the same official transferred to him the pigs that Nguyet had failed to slaughter.

February 21, 2013

A bacterium virus called ‘Streptococcus Suis’ from pigs claimed two lives in North Vietnam, the Central Tropical Disease Hospital in Hanoi announced.

The Central Tropical Disease Hospital has admitted two people infected with the above bacterium, said Dr Nguyen Hong Ha, head of the hospital.

Patients were rushed to the hospital in critical condition and they were suffering from serious complications such as abscess, meningitis, septicemia and limb gangrene.

Most patients contracted the ‘Streptococcus Suis’ bacterium after eating undercooked infected pork, blood paste, or came into direct contact with secretion from diseased pigs via open wounds or airborne tracts.

Dr. Ha warned people not to slaughter and eat diseased pigs and go to hospitals for timely treatment or they will suffer severe complications even deaths.

September 18, 2012

A 51-year-old man has become the first victim to be killed by swine bacteria in Hanoi this year, Vietnam News Agency quoted local health authorities as saying on Monday.

According to the Hanoi Department of Health, Hoang Minh T. was admitted to Hospital 354 on September 5 with a high fever, cold shivers, vomiting and bleeding under the skin of his chest, arms and legs.

When T.’s condition did not improve, he was transferred to Bach Mai Hospital the next day, the news report said.

The man was once again transferred to the National Hospital of Tropical Diseases after losing consciousness, at which point bleeding spots had spread all over his body.

Doctors then concluded that T. was infected with the Streptococcus suis bacteria.
His family said he had eaten pig blood pudding prior to developing the symptoms.

On September 8 the man’s family brought him home, as his condition continued to worsen.

He died the next day, the news agency reported.

The Vietnam News Agency said as of this August, the hospital has admitted 44 people infected with Streptococcus suis.

Approximately 30-40 percent of those patients considered to have critical conditions told doctors that they had eaten pig blood pudding or had cooked or killed pigs before falling sick.